That’s one of the lines of thought that National Minority Mental Health Awareness is fighting against. Every July, mental health orgs ramp up efforts to overcome the stigma of asking for help with mental and emotional issues in the black community. For two years running, Twitter kicked off the month by celebrating #NoShameDay, a day that encourages people, especially those of color, to share their stories of struggle and success without fear of judgment.

Thanks to my history with generalized anxiety disorder, I’m always quick to tell someone to get their black ass (or non-black ass, where applicable) into a therapist’s office. I shared my story on Twitter as a part of #NoShameDay in hopes that it might reach someone who needed to hear it. It appears below, Storyfied. It’s extra long because I talk too much.

The moral of the story, though, is take care of yourself. Though No Shame Day is celebrated on July 1st, there is never any shame in asking for help in creating the best you that you can possibly fashion.

Peace to those struggling. You’re worth the change that help can bring.

Thank you for this, Brokey. I struggle with GAD as well, it can be crippling. Saw you share your story yesterday and was reminded of how important it is to address these issues before they become too consuming.

One small thing I’d like to push back on re: the black-people-don’t-go-to-therapy thing — because, yes, people say this a lot — is how much access plays a role in the normalizing of ideas or practices. We could prolly say this about any number of things that middle class people can enjoy, like yoga or international travel or whatever.

The more black folks who have access to mental health services through their employers or whatever, the more who’ll probably avail themselves of them and champion it to the people in their lives.